A Shepherd
by GreenPokeGuy
Summary: Where Chrom finds out just how much he means to everyone. Happy birthday, Chrom!


**Hello everyone! Today is a very special day; Chrom's birthday! And so, I wrote this to celebrate my favourite FE:A character! Happy birthday Chrom, and I hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

Chrom got out of bed, stretching his stiff limbs and yawning. As far as he knew, today would be a normal day. He got dressed and fixed his hair, making sure to attach Falchion to his belt before he got ready to face the day. Another day of training and war meetings, especially since they were to face the Valmese in this latest campaign. He wanted everyone to be as prepared as possible.

He started his walk to the mess tent, stomach rumbling at the prospect of breakfast. As he was walking, he noticed something strange. He looked down to see not a single stone or blade of grass on the ground beneath his feet, and looking toward the mess tent, he could see a path leading directly to the mess tent from his tent.

"Frederick... I thought I told him to stop this." Chrom groaned quietly, the thought of speaking to Frederick stored in his mind. Shrugging, since he couldn't exactly tell Frederick to replant the grass, Chrom continued on. When he entered the mess tent, he was met by a peculiar sight. Normally, when he entered, everyone already there would greet him warmly. Today, everyone looked to see who entered the tent, but then every single eye averted from his gaze. Frowning, Chrom was about to go collect something to eat when a call stopped him.

"Father!" Chrom recognised Lucina's voice, and he turned to see Lucina waving him over, Lissa, his wife Olivia and Frederick also seated with her. There was a free seat between Lucina and Olivia, and a plate of food was already placed there. Chrom walked over and sat down, kissing Olivia on the cheek. "I made sure to get you the foods that you like! Cordelia did a great job making it." Looking at the plate, Chrom could see that Lucina was right. Not a single bit of food was something he disliked, and his mouth watered just looking at it. He made a note to talk to Cordelia later as he dug in, the taste erupting in his tastebuds as he chewed.

"This is really good!" Chrom commented, a smile on his face, and everyone at the table smiled too, happy to see Chrom in a positive mood. A muffled squeak could be heard, but when Chrom looked around for the source, he couldn't find anyone looking suspicious. Shrugging, he turned back to his breakfast.

"May I remind you of your schedule today, milord?" Frederick asked, and Chrom nodded. Upon seeing the knight, Chrom wanted to bring up the path, but he didn't want to interrupt Frederick, so he hoped that a meaningful look would suffice for now. Frederick swallowed before he continued speaking. "After breakfast, you have a meeting with Robin, Basilio and Flavia that will go until lunch, and after lunch, you will be running a training regime, which all the close combat weapon wielders will be attending, and then you have some free time until dinner, after which you have no other obligations."

"Thank you, Frederick." Chrom said, finishing up his breakfast. He was about to get up and put his plate with the other dirty dishes, but Olivia shot up and grabbed it.

"L-Let me take that for you!" Olivia blurted, face red as a tomato. She rushed away, almost tripping in the process. Chrom could only raise an eyebrow at his wife and turned back to the table.

"What was that about?" Chrom asked. Lissa shrugged casually.

"I think she's on edge today, since it's your-" Lissa was interrupted by a nudge from Frederick, and her eyes widened. "Since it's your... Uh, since you're so busy today! She wants you to take it easy so that you don't stress yourself out before the campaign." Lissa laughed nervously, and Lucina and Frederick could only shake their heads.

"I don't see how putting my plate with the other dishes could be seen as stressful, but all right. I'll try not to stress too much today." Chrom replied slowly, eyebrow raised at Lissa's fumbling of words. To draw attention to her, Lucina stood up.

"I'm going to do some scouting this morning, to see if I can learn where my friends may have ended up. I'll talk to you at lunch, Father! Bye, Aunt Lissa and Frederick!" Lucina smiled, giving Chrom a one-armed hug before leaving the mess tent.

"Strange, Lucina usually hangs around longer than this, wanting to hear all about this world and telling me stories of her own. I wonder what's got her so eager today..." Chrom thought aloud, and he missed Frederick and Lissa glancing at each other.

"Perhaps she heard some news yesterday, and wanted to follow it up as quickly as possible?" Frederick suggested. "I think that Lucina would want to waste no time if it meant finding her friends."

"You're probably right, Frederick. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about-" Chrom was interrupted by Frederick standing up.

"Milord! You need to hurry to the meeting, or you'll be late!" Frederick exclaimed, rushing to pull Chrom out of his chair and guiding him to the side entrance to the mess tent.

"What? The meeting doesn't start for fifteen minutes, Frederick! I need to talk-" Chrom was again interrupted by Frederick, who was pushing Chrom toward the strategy tent, and that was when Chrom noticed the path directly from the mess tent to the strategy tent.

"Go, milord! They're waiting!" With one final push, Frederick left, heading back into the mess hall. Confused, Chrom decided to go with it and headed to the strategy tent, stopping briefly to greet Sumia, who squealed and ran away, and he heard the distinct sound of her falling over out of his sight. He wanted to go help her, but he heard someone clear their throat aggressively as soon as his foot left the path, and he turned back to the mess tent to see Frederick pointing to the strategy tent, a stern expression on his face. Even more confused than before, Chrom did what Frederick wanted.

* * *

As he expected, the tent was completely empty, and Chrom sighed as he took a seat at the head of the table, examining the scrolls and papers in front of him. He located a map of Valm and decided that it would be very handy to study the different landmarks and towns before they headed there.

As Chrom was looking at the Roseanne area, recalling that that was where Virion and Cherche said they were from, he heard the tent flaps rustle and he looked up to see Basilio and Flavia entering the tent. He greeted them with a smile, and they returned the favour, Basilio clapping him on the back before he sat down on Chrom's left side, Flavia next to him, and Chrom was sure he'd have a sore back later. Not a minute later did Robin rush into the tent, dishevelled white hair and bags under his eyes making it look like he'd just woken up. He briefly apologised for being late as he slumped into the chair to Chrom's right, stifling a yawn behind the sleeve of his robe.

"Had a bad night, my friend? You look like you haven't slept at all." Chrom asked, and Robin's head jolted up, eyes opening as he tried to snap out of his sleepiness.

"Yeah, not much sleep, sorry about that, Chrom. Oh, and hap-" Robin was suddenly the recipient of a light punch to the arm that almost sent him flying out of his seat, and he let out a startled yell as his chair almost toppled over. He rubbed his arm and grumbled at the culprit. Basilio chuckled heartily, which earned him a hard elbow to the ribs courtesy of Flavia, which made him cease his laughter and send her a glare that she returned, though she also had a smirk which ruined the effect. Chrom could only stare, resisting the very real temptation to put a hand over his face.

"All right, now that that's out of the way and I feel very awake now," Robin paused to send Basilio a glare, who shrugged back at him. "Let's get on with the meeting."

"Chrom was here already, so I think he's probably got some ideas brewing in that head of his." Flavia said, and suddenly all eyes were on Chrom. Slightly startled from the sudden attention, Chrom cleared his throat as he composed himself.

"Well, I was looking at this map of Valm, and I think..."

* * *

Chrom walked out of the strategy tent, feeling exhausted. He was amazed at how, even running on seemingly no sleep, Robin was able to come up with such complex ideas that Chrom couldn't even wrap his head around. Add that to Basilio and Flavia's normal banter, along with Robin having to keep pausing as his brain was unable to keep up with his mouth, and Chrom was grateful that it was lunch time finally.

Entering the mess tent, Chrom quickly located Lucina, Lissa, Olivia and Frederick at a table, along with Lon'qu and Maribelle, who were sitting next to Lissa and Frederick respectively. Chrom noticed that there was a free spot between his wife and future daughter with a plate of food already there like in the morning, so he sat down, giving the two women half hugs before digging straight in.

"You sure are hungry, aren't you, Chrom?" Lissa giggled as she watched her brother wolf down his food, and a nudge had her turn to Lon'qu with a pout on her face. "What, I can't comment on how he's eating like he hasn't all day?"

"It's rude to laugh." Lon'qu told her simply, and he blushed when Lissa moved closer to him just to make him quiet.

"Honestly, I agree with Lissa," Maribelle chipped in, watching Chrom eat with something like disgust on her face. "I mean, a noble eating like a commoner? Even if it is his-" Lissa nudged Maribelle a bit harder than she meant to, so Maribelle whipped around to face her. "What is it? Oh, I'm sorry, my treasure. I should have been more careful." Chrom stopped eating to give Maribelle an inquisitive look.

"What happened? What weren't you being careful about?" Chrom asked, and he could swear that the look on Maribelle's face could only be described as panicked. He was about to ask further, but Frederick stepped in.

"It's nothing to worry about, milord. Maribelle was walking too close to the woods earlier today, and I managed to find her before something attacked her. Isn't that right, dear?" Frederick put an arm around Maribelle, who blushed at the sudden display of affection.

"Oh, yes, I can only imagine what could have happened if Frederick hadn't been around to save me! Why, I could have been killed by wolves!" Maribelle gasped, putting a hand to her mouth in horror. Chrom felt that it was too exaggerated, but everyone was acting so strangely today that Chrom dismissed it.

"I see... We wouldn't want to lose one of our best healers. Please do be careful." Chrom advised her, and Maribelle smiled at him.

"You flatter me, milord. I only do what I can, it just so happens that a lot of people trust me for healing." Maribelle waved a hand, dismissing Chrom's compliment. As Chrom went back to his food, Lucina asked if anyone wanted to hear how her scouting had gone, and everyone nodded eagerly. When Chrom turned his attention to her, he saw that she looked somewhat sad.

"It turns out that I was too late. No one in the village could tell me who it was, but I didn't locate any of my friends. They'd moved on an hour before I got there. If I'd only gone yesterday when I learned about it..." Lucina frowned, and Chrom put a hand on her shoulder, and she looked at him.

"Don't worry, Lucina. Even though you missed them today, I'm sure fate has something in store for us. We'll find your friends." Chrom smiled, giving her shoulder a squeeze, and Lucina smiled back.

"Thank you, Father. Your words warm my heart. I only hope that it will be soon." Lucina replied, cheered up at the thought. Chrom finished his lunch, but his prior exhaustion caused him to still feel hungry. At that moment, Stahl, who had prepared lunch for everyone, came over to collect plates so he could wash them. As he was about to take Chrom's plate, Chrom stopped him.

"My apologies, Stahl, but would I be able to have seconds? I'm still feeling hungry." Chrom asked, and Stahl paled.

"Um... You see, there isn't actually enough for seconds. I, uh, might have enjoyed my cooking a bit too much," Stahl chuckled nervously, patting his stomach. "And now I feel hungry again..." Chrom frowned at the news.

"Oh, I see. That's all right, I'm sure dinner will-"

"Stahl! What are you doing? If milord is still hungry, then he should get some more food! I'll help you prepare some!" Frederick cut in, standing up and dragging Stahl back to the kitchen, and Chrom could hear Stahl talking about making some more for himself as well. Chrom turned back to the table.

"Tell me I'm not the only one who feels that that was strange." Chrom said, and everyone at the table nodded their agreement.

"I know Frederick tries hard to make sure that you keep your strength up, but I feel like that was too much..." Olivia agreed, and then she realised that Frederick's fiancée was sitting directly across from her. "O-Oh, I meant no offense, Maribelle! I'm sorry!"

"It's perfectly fine, Olivia. In fact, I am inclined to agree," Maribelle replied, smiling to show that she took no offense. "I don't think making more is necessary, because it will only mean that there is potential for wasted food."

"I don't think you have to worry about food being wasted, Maribelle," Lissa giggled. "With Stahl in charge of the food, there's no way he wouldn't be able to finish it off! He's always eating, and even if he somehow couldn't finish it, I'm sure Lon'qu here would be able to. He needs some more muscle, anyway." Lissa went to squeeze Lon'qu's arm, but as soon as she touched him, he recoiled as if her hand was a hot brand. "Lon'qu! Why can't I touch you?" Lon'qu sighed as he took in Lissa's pout.

"Not here." Lon'qu grunted, but he eventually gave in to Lissa's eyes. "Fine, you may hold my hand." Lissa instantly grabbed it, and Lon'qu's face coloured as he tried not to pull away. "And I have enough muscle to be fast. Any more and it would become fat." At that moment, Frederick came back with a plate of food and placed it in front of Chrom.

"Here you are, milord! I hope you enjoy!" Frederick smiled before leaving to return to the kitchen. Chrom started eating again, but other occupants of the table started to leave, wanting to warm up before training, until it was only Lissa and Lucina left at the table.

"Are you sure you're going to get through that, Father?" Lucina asked, gesturing to the amount of food still left on the plate. Chrom thought about it for a second.

"I'll try, and if there are leftovers then I guess Stahl can eat it or something." Chrom shrugged as he went back to eating.

"Well, as fun as watching you eat is, Chrom, I think I should go join the others for training," Lissa said, standing up. "I can't wait to sling some spells around with Robin!" Lissa waved as she left the mess tent. Lucina chuckled, and Chrom looked at her questioningly.

"Oh, it's just that Aunt Lissa sounds so excited to be using magic," Lucina explained. "It reminds me of when I was learning to use swords. I was so eager to be like you that I wanted to learn as quickly as possible."

"I'm sure a young girl carrying a sword around would have been an amusing sight." Chrom laughed, and Lucina couldn't help but laugh too.

"Yeah, I suppose it was." Lucina smiled, remembering the time fondly. Chrom noticed that the look in Lucina's eyes was starting to become distant, and he touched her arm, drawing her attention back.

"Hey, you should go warm up as well. I'll be done soon, and I'll make sure that we get some time to spar." Chrom told her, and Lucina nodded.

"I look forward to it, Father. I'll get the upper hand this time!" Lucina smirked before she took her leave, leaving Chrom alone to finish up. Once he'd finished the food, he took the plate to the kitchen and thanked Frederick and Stahl for the extra helping before going to the grounds set aside for training.

* * *

The sound of metal clashing on metal could be heard as Chrom approached the training grounds, and he was satisfied to see that some of the Shepherds had already begun to spar.

"Looks like you mightn't even need me to run through some drills with you if you're so eager to get sparring!" Chrom announced his presence, drawing the attention of the Shepherds to him.

"Yeah, Sully over there told us that it would be a good idea to start before you came as a nice surprise for your b-" Gaius suddenly had his sparring partner, Cherche, clap a hand over his mouth.

"We just want to be as prepared as we can for the campaign." Cherche smiled sweetly at Gaius as she removed her hand from his mouth, her tone anything but sweet. Gaius rolled his eyes and shrugged. Chrom raised an eyebrow before facing the group.

"Since you're already sparring, you might as well continue with that. We can do the drills afterward." Chrom told everyone, and the Shepherds got back to sparring. Lucina came up to Chrom, wielding her own Falchion.

"Looks like our sparring match is now, Father. I won't back down!" Lucina said, a challenge to her voice. Chrom unsheathed his sword and got into a battle stance, and Lucina imitated him.

"And nor will I!" Chrom exclaimed, striking at Lucina's side, which she was able to parry with a practiced ease. The new few minutes was filled with the clang of steel as the two royals duelled, trading and blocking blows as they danced around each other. As the two moved toward the middle of the grounds, the other Shepherds moved out of the way to give them room and watched, some hoping to pick up a few techniques and others just in awe. The fight ended when Chrom jumped up and tried to hit Lucina with an overhead slash, but Lucina rolled out of the way and Chrom's sword clashed with steel. Surprised, since he'd struck the side of a tent, Chrom took a closer look. The fabric where his sword had struck was ripped, but propped behind it was a shield. Chrom heard a snicker and saw Sully trying to contain her laughter, her sparring partner Vaike grinning beside her. Noticing Chrom's eyes on her, Sully tried to regain her usual demeanour, which she found quite difficult.

"I'm sorry, but when Frederick put the shield there earlier, claiming that you would definitely hit that spot, I didn't believe it," Sully explained, shoulders shaking. "But you hit that damn shield, all right! It's almost freaky." Sully couldn't contain herself and let loose, and Vaike lost his composure and laughed as well. Chrom turned to Frederick, whose face seemed to be a bit flushed.

"It was just a precaution. I was reinforcing the area in case you had a reckless spar like that." Frederick explained, avoiding Chrom's gaze. Chrom sighed and started going through some drills.

* * *

After finishing up the training session, Chrom found himself wondering what he could do with his free time before dinner. Noticing yet another path, and remembering that he still needed to talk to Frederick about them, Chrom decided to follow it and see where Frederick would guide him. On his way down the path, Chrom saw Cordelia and Sumia walking across the way, and he remembered the two incidents concerning them. He jogged to meet them where their paths crossed.

"Hey, girls! I wanted to speak to you two!" Chrom shouted to get their attention. They turned to him and froze, looking like deer caught in the headlights. As he stopped in front of them, a smile on his face, he noticed that their cheeks were flushed. "Oh, are you two cold? I'll be brief then."

"T-Take your time." Cordelia stammered, a small smile on her face as she tried to act normal.

"Uh, okay," Chrom turned to Cordelia. "Cordelia, I wanted to thank you for breakfast this morning. It was really great!" Cordelia squeaked a little in response, and Chrom chuckled before turning to Sumia. "And Sumia, I wanted to make sure you were okay after this morning. I heard you fall, but I didn't have the time to help you out. Sorry about that." He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Oh, no! I-I'm okay, you know me, haha." Sumia replied, blushing and looking down at her feet.

"Still those boots, huh? Maybe you should invest in some new ones," Chrom told her, and Sumia nodded. "Anyway, I'll let you two go, it is quite chilly. See you later!" Chrom waved as he continued to walk down the path, and he faintly heard the sound of squealing.

Chrom made it to the end of the path, and found that he was in a clearing on top of a hill that offered a view of a nearby city. Sitting under a tree was Olivia, who stood up upon seeing her husband arrive. Chrom walked over to her and put an arm around her, and they looked at the city.

"Beautiful, isn't it? It's not as grand as Ylisstol, but it's the best I could find." Olivia said, leaning her head on Chrom's shoulder, and Chrom held her closer to him.

"Yeah, it's really nice," Chrom agreed, smiling down at his wife and planting a kiss on the top of her head. "I'm sorry that I've been so busy today. At least we're able to have some time together now."

"I understand, Chrom. Soon we'll be in a foreign land, fighting in another war, and you just want everyone to be ready." Olivia replied, pulling away and taking Chrom's hands in hers. He looked down into her eyes, which were filled with determination. "I'll stand by your side through it all. If you ever have anything you need to talk about, I'll listen and help you with it." Chrom leaned down and connected his lips with hers, showing his appreciation and love for her in that gesture. He pulled away and smiled.

"I know you will be. I love you, Olivia, and that won't ever change." Chrom told her, and Olivia smiled back at him. Giggling, she pulled him away from the city view and down the hill.

"Come on, there's one more place that you need to go today." Olivia told him, following a path that led back into camp.

"And what will I find there?" Chrom asked, chuckling as his wife energetically led him through the sea of tents. The path led them to the mess tent, and Olivia stopped in front of it. She looked back at him and gestured that he go in before her.

"You'll see." Olivia winked, and Chrom laughed as he opened the tent flaps to enter the tent. He was greeted by the sight of all the Shepherds facing the flap with smiles on their faces.

"Happy birthday, Chrom!" They shouted, and suddenly confetti rained down from the roof, causing the Shepherds to cheer and crowd around Chrom, who was bewildered at the suddenness of it all. He was tackled into a hug by Lissa, Lucina and Olivia, and led into the middle of the room.

"All this for me? This is amazing!" Chrom exclaimed in awe, looking at the large variety of dishes spread across the table, though there was a noticeable circular gap right in the middle.

"Stahl, Gaius, Sumia and Cordelia spent all day on these dishes, and Miriel was the one to suggest the confetti for your entrance," Lissa informed him, he tried to think about all the effort that was put into it all. "Henry and Nowi were in charge of the decorations, and Frederick, of course, was the one who made sure you could get around on those paths." Chrom just laughed.

"I knew it from the start. There's no way anyone other than Frederick would be diligent enough to pluck out every blade of grass for multiple paths." Chrom said, and all the Shepherds shared a laugh, though Frederick's face was bright red.

"And to top it all off, Robin, Olivia and Lucina were the ones who made sure that it all happened." Lissa finished explaining, and the three mentioned stood in front of Chrom.

"Ah, so that's why you were so tired," Chrom said to Robin, and Robin could only nod with a smile. Chrom turned to Lucina next. "And I'm guessing that the scouting was a cover story so that you could go around without me looking for you?"

"That's right, Father! It was really hard to keep a straight face when I was telling you about not finding my friend, but fortunately Maribelle instructed me on how to keep my composure." Lucina giggled, and Maribelle nodded in confirmation. Finally, Chrom turned to his wife.

"And you found that view, and told Cordelia and Stahl what my favourite foods were, didn't you?" Chrom asked her, and she beamed at him.

"Yep! Though Cordelia seemed to be quite knowledgeable on them anyway, which made it easier." Olivia said, and Chrom raised an eyebrow at that last comment.

"And now the last part should be here any second..." Lucina said, looking to the tent flaps. And soon enough, Cordelia and Sumia walked in, Cordelia holding something under some cloth.

"Here it is, everyone! Stahl and I worked very hard on it, so I hope it's okay!" Sumia smiled, and if you listened closely, one could hear Stahl grumbling about it taking three tries to perfect. Cordelia placed it in the space on the table, and took off the cloth to reveal a royal blue iced cake, with Falchion decorations and the words 'Happy Birthday Chrom!' in golden icing.

"Wow, it looks amazing." Chrom was breathless as he looked at the cake.

"Oh, I'm so glad you like it!" Sumia exclaimed, hands clasped and a huge smile on her face.

"It almost looks too good to cut!" Lissa giggled, and a few laughs showed that people agreed.

"Here, Father," Lucina handed Chrom a knife. "Cut the cake!" Chrom approached and table and cut into the cake, a few cheers going around and some people starting to sing Happy Birthday, which turned into all the Shepherds singing and Chrom smiling. He was so glad to be a Shepherd.

* * *

 **I love him so much oh geez**

 **But yes, that's what I whipped up! It was a lot of fun, and I really hope it does him justice! Happy birthday Chrom! :D**

 **-Green**


End file.
